In this interview, Darius Riahy speaks to the British musical comedian and conductor Rainer Hersch about his upcoming appearance at the Ludlow Piano Festival on May 27th in which Hersch will be putting on ‘Victor Borge’, his sellout show centred around the Danish comedian Victor Borge.
Born in the UK of a German father and English mother, Rainer Hersch originally discovered music via the piano, which he studied with pianist Norma Fisher. He read Economics at Lancaster University – a decision that he described as a mistake, adding that if someone told him now he only had three months to live, he has always said he ‘would go back to university and do another degree in Economics because, like that, three months would seem like an absolute eternity.’ It wasn’t all bad though: A Monty Python fan in his youth, he joined the Revue Group, the university’s student comedy troupe, and began his writing career.
In December 1987 Hersch made his debut on the London stand-up circuit as part of a comic double act The Tebbits with fellow student Peter Wylie. He went on to devise a stand-up show All Classical Music Explained (ACME), which he performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1996. Billed as ‘a simple and stupid guide to questions like “why is organ music so boring?”; “what does a conductor actually do?” and “how to clap in the wrong place and mean it” ACME has since been performed over 300 times in four continents.
Nowadays, Rainer Hersch continues to present his one-man shows in venues across the world. He has also conducted orchestras including The Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra – using his funny arrangements and hosting the concert with stand-up comedy. Soloists who have participated in his comedy concerts include Alfred Brendel, Nicola Benedetti, Marc-André Hamelin, Paul Lewis and Dame Evelyn Glennie.
For more information about the inaugural Ludlow Piano Festival, click here.
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